This document is available in two
formats: this web page (for browsing content) and PDF (comparable to original document formatting). To view the PDF you will need Acrobat Reader, which may be downloaded from the
Adobe site. For an official signed copy, please contact the
Antitrust Documents Group.

FORMER PRESIDENT OF HOUSTON MARINE CONSTRUCTION
COMPANY
INDICTED ON BID-RIGGING CONSPIRACY CHARGES

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The former president of a leading Houston-based marine
construction
contractor, J. Ray McDermott, S.A., was indicted today by a federal grand jury for conspiring to
rig bids for heavy-lift marine installation services provided to customers in the Gulf of Mexico,
the Department of Justice announced.

This is the fourth case brought by the Department in its ongoing antitrust investigation of
the marine construction industry.

The three-count felony case, filed in U.S. District Court in Houston, charges Michael
Harless Lam with one count of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act from September 1995 to
January 1997, and with two counts of mail fraud in connection with the conspiracy to suppress
and eliminate price competition for heavy-lift installation services in the Gulf of Mexico.

Marine construction services include the design, construction, installation, and removal
of offshore oil and gas production platforms and subsea pipeline systems. Heavy-lift installation
service is a type of marine construction service involving the transportation and installation of
offshore oil and gas production platforms and support structures.

The Indictment charges that in carrying out the conspiracy, the unnamed co-conspirators
held meetings in Leiden, The Netherlands; Penang, Malaysia; Istanbul, Turkey; and other
locations to discuss allocating heavy-lift installation projects in the Gulf of Mexico. According
to the charges, the conspirators discussed and agreed upon which conspirator would obtain
particular contracts to provide heavy-lift installation services and exchanged proposed bid prices
or price ranges for particular contracts.

"By interfering with the bidding process, this cartel denied customers of heavy-lift
installation services and the benefits of competition," said Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney
General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division. "Today's charges further demonstrate
the Division's continued commitment to prosecute vigorously conspiracies that harm American
citizens and companies."

In July 1999, Littleton Edwards Walker, former Senior Vice President of Business
Development and Strategic Initiatives for J. Ray McDermott, S.A., pleaded guilty to a one-count
felony Information charging him with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by conspiring with
others to rig bids for the sale of marine construction services in the United States and elsewhere.
He agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation and is currently awaiting sentencing.

In October 1998, Vincenzo Oliveri, an official of Saipem, S.p.A., an Italian-based marine
construction contractor, was charged by a Houston federal grand jury with criminal contempt for
failure to appear before the grand jury in response to a subpoena. Oliveri is a fugitive.

In December 1997, HeereMac, v.o.f., a Netherlands-based marine construction
contractor, and HeereMac's commercial director, Jan Meek, a Dutch national, pleaded guilty to
charges of participating in an international conspiracy to rig bids for the sale of heavy-lift
derrick barge services and related marine construction services. Under the plea agreements,
HeereMac was fined $49 million and Meek was fined $100,000. They each agreed to cooperate
with the government's investigation.

Lam is charged with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, which carries a maximum
penalty of three years imprisonment and a fine of $350,000 for individuals. Lam is also charged
with two counts of violating the Mail Fraud Statute, which carries a maximum penalty of five
years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 for each count. The maximum fines for both the
Sherman Act violation and the Mail Fraud violations may be increased to twice the gain derived
from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts
is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

Today's Indictment is the result of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the
Litigation I Section of the Antitrust Division, Washington, D.C., and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Houston Field Office.